Sweet Moments

Yesterday I took Ralphie and Andrew on a short walk. On the way home I felt so content. My baby boy (who will be 1 in 3 days) and his brother dog were side by side and enjoying each others company. It was a moment I wish I could taken a picture of and remember it always...I love that God blesses us with moments like these.

Thanksgiving 2010

The Thanksgiving trip we have been waiting for came and went and we had a blast. The Rust family (my parents and brother) and The Munton's (Owen, Me and Andrew) headed north to the Georgia mountains. It was everything we had hoped it would be. There was good food, lazy mornings, pretty scenery, wood burning fire places and a lot of family time. I love Thanksgiving because it is a day that makes you stop and realize you are very blessed.

Here is a recap in pictures...

Andrew and Me waiting on the porch of the Smith House


Dad and Andrew at the Smith House. This is where we had Thanksgiving lunch.


Adam and Me wine tasting in Sautee, Georgia


Andrew meeting Santa for the 1st time. There were only tears at the end of visit.


Our little family at Brasstown Bald, Georgia


Andrew's adorable smile...he was so fun and easy to take on this trip...another blessing to be thankful for.

Andrew's 1st Birthday Present

I have some of the best friends a girl could ask for. My very good friend from college sent Andrew this birthday gift and to say he likes it is an understatement. He got the gift on the day he didn't feel good so it was perfect timing b/c he actually played for the 1st time that day.

Here is a video of him discovering his new toy.



Here is a video I took last night of him playing with it. He is now walking behind it! I can't believe how fast he learns new things. Amazing really!

Has it been that long?

Last week was a whirlwind week. Andrew developed an ear infection on Tuesday that left him so helpless and sad. Owen and I did not hesitate to take him to the doctor to get him back to his friendly and happy self. But it was a long week because I had planned to go to Columbus, MS to visit my college friends at the W. With Andrew being sick I thought I might have to cancel my trip. I was anxious about that b/c I didn't know how Andrew was going to bounce back. Luckily he did and everything went on as planned.

This past weekend marked the 10th anniversary that I pledged a social club. Confused? Well I went to a small university and we did not have sororities we had social clubs. There were two types of clubs...one was a four year club that you pledged as a freshman and the other was a two year honorary club that you pledged as a junior. This past weekend focused on the two year club. There were 13 of us in the club and 10 came back for the reunion. We had a great time. It was fun to catch up and visit with each other. Most of us have small children so it was nice to hear stories of their kids and ask advice about certain things related to parenting. I have to say this was one of my favorite visits back to the W.

Not only did I get to visit with my friends who pledged with me, but I got see some other friends that I graduated with. We went to lunch with 8 other friends and had a great time seeing what they had been up to. I wish I had taken a picture...but didn't even think about it. My good friend from my freshman year in college, Telena took a picture of us... I will have to get it from her.

Here are some pictures of the weekend.


This is a picture of me and my nine pledge sisters that came in town for the weekend.


This is a picture of my pledge sisters and big sisters in the social club


McCall (my little sister) and me

Over all it was a great weekend and I still can't believe it has been 10 years since college.

11 Months Old

Yesterday my baby boy turned 11 months old. I can't believe it has been 11 months since he joined our family. He is growing and changing so fast that it is hard to keep up. I am busily planning for his birthday party which is in one month!!! I decided to do it big for his 1st year. I am just too excited and emotional to let his one year come and go without a big fuss. I prayed long and hard for him and I want to celebrate this day.



As you can see my sign is not making it in the pictures anymore.

Facts about Andrew:
* He loves to play and playing peek a boo is becoming a favorite game
* He is eating 3 meals a day and drinks four formula bottles. Today we tried a sippy cup with formula to start transitioning away from the bottle.
* He still likes most foods but is becoming more opinionated on what he doesn't like.
* I have started to give him more table food and foods that he can feed himself. This seems easier than me trying to feed him with a spoon b/c he now wants to bat the spoon away from me or grab the spoon.
* He is starting to stand on his own but not for long. I think when he realizes he is not holding onto something is when he falls down. However, he falls down very gracefully.
* He can say bye-bye appropriately. He is not consistent with it but does say it more than not.
* He claps when you ask him to and can give you a high five. We are teaching him to give hugs now.

This month I am going to work on getting us on a dinner time meal schedule. Since Andrew is eating more table food I think I am going to switch it up and give him a snack after school and then a "meal" when we eat dinner. This will probably push his bedtime back 30 minutes or so...so we will see how successful I am with it.

Again, he is changing so much but I have loved every minute of it.

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010 has been an exciting one for us. Andrew dressed up as a sailor and was the cutest one around if I say so myself.

First we had our Mommy and Me class party. The mommies brought snacks and we enjoyed dress up time, songs, dancing, and visiting. It was a great party.


our mommy and me class




Andrew and Brantley

Then on Thursday Amanda, Owen and I took the babies to the ZooBoo at the Hattiesburg Zoo. They may have been a little young this year, but we took advantage of the carousel. Andrew was unsure at first but then really got into it.





Friday was Andrew's school's costume parade. They had the babies in wagons and strolled them around. It was really a cute idea.







On Saturday we went to Starkville for the MSU game. We had a nice time visiting with my family. Here is Andrew in his skeleton outfit before the game. We wanted to be festive for Halloween.

Our Last MSU Tailgate (of the season)

This past weekend we headed to Starkville one last time. They will have another home game, but we aren't going to go to that one. Here are pictures of our fun weekend.

P.S. I haven't forgotten about Halloween. We had a great time and lots of fun pictures, but the pictures aren't on this computer yet, so my Halloween post will come later.

Enjoy the pictures! Oh and MSU is 7-2!! YIPPEE

There is a fine line

I think there is a fine line between asking questions to get advice and to learn from a friend and trying to one up a friend with the way you parent your child. A friend of mine did a week of what kind of mom are you. I loved reading what other mom's wrote about their thoughts and attitudes toward being a mom. I feel like I am still on the new mom block so I don't have too much insight on the type of mom I think I am compared to the type of mom I actually am.

I thought I would be a loving mom - reality is I am a loving mom.
I thought I would not care about organic foods and making my own baby food - reality is I do care about those things and try to make my own food - even more reality is store bought baby food is so much easier.
I thought I would be a stay at home mom immediately - reality is I am a working mom and have found a good balance - even more reality is I still want to be a stay at home mom and know that one day that will happen (it is what gets me through the day)
I thought I would not be too scheduled as a mom - reality is I am a scheduled mom with my baby and it works - even more reality is my baby is on his own schedule and I work his schedule
I thought I would care more about milestones and making sure my baby is on track - reality is I don't worry with milestones because I am really enjoying every moment with my baby - even more reality is my baby is on track and he gives me no reason to worry (praise the Lord)!

I have been blessed beyond belief this year but being blessed with a healthy baby and a happy home is not the point of my post today. I saw this video on a blog I read here and this video made me laugh out loud. I have been in these types of conversations but hopefully NEVER to the extend of comparing myself. I know it happens and my mind does go in that direction sometimes, but I immediately try to get in a different frame of mind and realize that questions are to help me understand how to raise my sweet little man and to gain helpful advice. However with all of that said...this video is priceless and I hope you enjoy it.

5 thanks: October

Yes, I realize it is November now, but this post has taken me a long to get organized. The main reason is I could not get my video to load on utube. But I have it together and am thankful :)

Today I am taking the lead of a good friend of mine. You can check out her blog here. She did a post the other day about being thankful. This is the time of year to start thinking about the things we are thankful for with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner. I admit that most of the time I dwell on the negative parts of life too much. In fact this blog post has become a bit of a interpersonal challenge. More so than I would have thought. It has actually taken me several days to write this post b/c I want more than I am thankful. This has also been a topic of discussion in our house lately. I want this and I want that...but because I want does not mean I am not thankful for what I do have. Somehow and someway it is in my DNA to want and need things. It can be a problem b/c I am too busy wanting the next thing in life that I don't always stop and appreciate what is around me. It is a personal tug of rope for me.

My five things maybe a little broad but I am so very thankful for these things in life and I thank God every night for these blessings.









I am thankful to be able to spend time with this little treasure at Mommy and Me. To have this program available in Hattiesburg and to be able to participate as a working mom brings more joy to me than I can express.

Our 1st Saints Game

This past weekend was an unusual one. I went to Columbus for a meeting and then met my parents in Starkville for lunch. They were in town for MSU's Homecoming. Then I rushed home to see the MSU game with my boys. Well actually just Owen and Ralphie since Andrew went to sleep at kick off. Then on Sunday we decided last minute to go to the Saints game. Owen had a friend who was selling his tickets so we bought them, went to to Wal-mart to get Saints shirts and headed to New Orleans. We had a great time. We were probably so funny to watch b/c the three of us were giddy entering the dome. I have never been to the Superdome and neither had Owen. It was a first experience for all of us. Our seats were very high up and that made me nervous at first. But once I got settled in, the height didn't bother me as much. Andrew had a great time. He made friends with everyone around us. It was a pleasant experience and one we will definitely do again. Too bad the Saints didn't play very well.




As you can see we had a great family experience in New Orleans watching the Saints play!

I think Andrew is going to think every weekend is a football game weekend. We are going to Starkville next weekend for the Kentucky game. Our little man is going to know the game of football very well.